


X Marks the Spot

by fortheficjihoon_99



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Assassins & Hitmen, Canon-Typical Violence, Fluff, Gun Violence, Knife Violence, M/M, Mark is probably a lil psychopathic, Minor Violence, Strangers to Lovers, They're teens, age typical swearing, teens swear, theres a lil murder but its no one important dont worry, trope typical violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-10
Updated: 2020-03-11
Packaged: 2021-02-28 00:14:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 14,024
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22744600
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fortheficjihoon_99/pseuds/fortheficjihoon_99
Summary: Mark Lee is like every other teenage boy his age except he's a rather successful assassin. You know, the usual stuff.
Relationships: Lee Donghyuck | Haechan & Mark Lee, Mark Lee/Wong Yuk Hei | Lucas
Comments: 8
Kudos: 89





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Mark does spinny things with pens and mics often.. it made me wonder about him doing it with knives. That's really all the justification I have for this.
> 
> I tried to keep the violence light so I didn't have to rate this explicit. (I have enough explicit fics lol) but gun and knife violence warnings apply so if any of that stuff triggers you, don't read. And like hearing about people dying, if that trigger's you don't read. It's an assassin kind of gang au, people are going to die and rather callously. 
> 
> Shout out to oomf for the title ! x

_Around the world la la la lala_

“It goes around the world, la la la lala,” Mark mumbled as his legs kicked absentmindedly against the edge of the rooftop to the europop tune. Below him lay a fifty floor drop onto a busy city street, the sound of car horns blaring just about reaching him, but Mark was more preoccupied with beating Jisung’s high-score on _Subway Surfer_. Despite the fact that he had his own phone, Mark’s younger brother saw it fit to occupy the top spot on every mindless app Mark owned. His brow furrowed and he let out a barely audible curse as his player slammed face first into a train. Damn it! He had only been a couple hundred away from the fourth spot.

The cold November wind, whipping between the high-rise buildings, licked at the parts of Mark’s face which were still visible despite his mask that lay across the bottom half of his face. Mark briefly considered lowering the heavy goggles that sat atop his beanie-clad head as his eyes began to water but the game refreshed and he had to press on, quickly losing track of time.

Mark breathed a sigh of relief as he caught his phone before it could topple over the edge, silently thanking God for the fast reflexes he had been blessed with. With a glare at the brightly lit screen, he cursed his past self for setting his alarm to vibration mode. But he had no time to dwell on it.

It was go time.

Locking and pocketing his phone, he stood up with a loud yawn. He had been sat in the same position for way too long. Rolling his neck and shoulders, he groaned, before pulling down his goggles and making sure his boots were laced up tight. Safety first.

Then over the edge he went.

He landed on the penthouse balcony with a barely audible thud. Dressed in all black, he blended in easily with the shadows. With his back pressed against the brick wall, he looked around the corner and through the glass windows of the apartment. He scoffed. A gaudy chandelier cast a bright light over the room, leaving him able to perfectly see the eight men in poorly tailored suits milling around. It seems like his targets had no concern for their well-being, walking around so brazenly. He could see every crevice and every ugly piece of designer furniture that had been shoved into the room. Even Mark, without a creative bone in his body, could see that it was tactless. Imagine leaving yourself vulnerable for such ugly aesthetics. A thought of how one of his friends, Renjun, would literally throw up at the sight crossed his mind and he chuckled.

_Around the world, la la la lala._

Oh right. He’d forgotten about his earphones. Well it didn’t matter; this would be a breeze anyways. As far as Mark could see, these were just some middle-level lackies in a gang, probably King J’s, and Mark had been promised a handsome sum to finish them off. So, finish them off he shall.

Turning away from this window, Mark shuffled along the platform until he came across another window. One he knew lead to a bathroom. As quietly as possible, Mark jimmied the window open and climbed in through the gap, landing on a plush white bath mat. White in a bathroom? This time he couldn’t stop himself from sighing at the cliché. Why is it when people got money, they suddenly lost all semblance of taste?

Oh well, it’s not like they’d be alive long enough to worry about their poor attempts at interior design.

Mark left the bathroom and continued down the hall to where he knew the main room was. Peaking around the corner, he saw a large open briefcase on a polished oak table, wads of bills spilled out of it. A transaction must be going down, Mark deduced.

Unhooking a knife from his belt, Mark prepared to throw it through the support holding that awful chandelier up but instead found himself pressing it to the throat of his uninvited guest.

“What are you doing here?” Mark hissed (as much as his voice modulator allowed) at the other man currently holding one of his earbuds.

Almost pitch-black eyes, showing absolutely no fear at the shiny blade currently pressing into his neck, rolled at the question. “Obviously, I got hired to be here.”

Mark glared. He pushed the tip into the tanned column just a little bit harder, but still not enough to draw blood. “I wasn’t informed this would be a duo mission.”

“Neither was I…” he paused. “I hope my pay isn’t halved.”

Now it was Mark’s turn to roll his eyes. Of course, he was only worried about his wage. Mark expected nothing less from “The Sun”, a rival assassin who had become something of a pain in Mark’s ass, for far too long to remember. He known him for too long.

With a grin that the thin cloth he called a mask did nothing to hide, Sun brought the earbud up to his own ear. He grimaced. Throwing it back to Mark as if it had burned him. “Of course, your taste in music is as shitty as your taste in weapon. I only know one other person who listens to this shit and he’s lame as fuck.”

“Excuse me!” Mark screeched, offended. Remembering where they were, he made sure to lower his voice when he hissed, “I wouldn’t expect someone like you to understand the fine culture of late 90’s and 00 europop; you were barely out of diapers.” Mark scoffed. “And blades are a perfectly _fine_ weapon choice!” he added as an afterthought.

“Ok, boomer.” The Sun rolled his eyes. “Why use blades when a gun gets the job done in half the time?”

“Guns are loud so I guess you chose a fitting weapon.” Mark countered haughtily; arms crossed.

“Yep,” The Sun grinned, before he fired a shot that just missed Mark’s ear. A loud grunt sounded followed by the heavy thud of a body falling. “But they get the job done.”

Mark scrunched his nose, indignant, because of course Sun had a point but he would never tell him that. Mark just thought knives were pretty and he was much better at stealth and close-combat. Anyways, just like his weapon choice, Sun was loud, obnoxious and had clearly given away their position with his insistent chatter. He sighed, then launched his blade into the chest of a guy in an obnoxious purple suit who was reaching for his gun.

 _Let’s get this over with_.

As annoying as Mark found him, he was not above admitting that they made a good team and the room was cleared in not even a minute from the Sun’s first gunshot.

Sun turned to him with a wild smile on his face. _Such a shitty disguise_ , Mark couldn’t help but to think. His eyes were manic with adrenaline. There was a splatter of blood by his right eye and Mark had to resist the urge to wipe it off.

“That was fun.” He beamed, twirling his gun on his finger like he was in an old western before putting it in its thigh-holster. Always the show off. “Don’t you think that was fun? We should do this again some time.” He rambled.

“Yeah, that was so cool guys!”

 _What the fuck!_ The pair spun to a somewhat secluded corner of the room to find a suit-clad (and rather handsome, Mark couldn’t lie) man currently tied to a chair with coarse rope. The top few buttons of his crumpled white button-up were undone, his bow tie lay around his neck. His dark brown hair was as dishevelled as his shirt, but managed not to cover his large brown eyes. His thick lips were stretched into a grin. Wait, he was really fucking cute! Shit! Mark cursed himself for missing him whilst doing his earlier scan of the room. From the outside, the hostage (?) had been in a blind spot and Mark hadn’t gotten to do a proper scan of the room before starting his attack. He had let himself get distracted by Sun. As cute as the hostage (?) may be though, Mark needed to work out whether he was a hostile or not because his bed was starting to call to him.

But Sun beat him to it. “Who the fuck are you?”

“Lucas.” He answered simply, smile not waning at Sun’s abrasive tone. 

“Okay… ‘Lucas’.” Sun repeated unimpressed, hand motion and all. “What the fuck are you doing here?”

Lucas sighed. The corners of his mouth turned down and Mark had to hold back his coo at the puppy-like expression. “To be honest with you, I don’t know man. I just moved here and I met these cool guys a couple weeks ago, so we’ve been hanging out a bit and today they were like ‘dude, do you want to come to this super fun party’ and I was like ‘yeah sure’ cos parties are a great way to make new friends. And I dressed up in this fancy suit, like seriously look how fancy this suit is guys, my mum got it for me. And now it has blood on it… she’s gonna be pretty bummed. But anyways, when I got in the car, they knocked me out and then I woke up here, tied to this chair. And then you two came in with the guns and the bam! And the throwing stars and wow.”

Mark had stopped listening somewhere in the middle of his first sentence, the deep voice throwing him off guard. God, was he really that bare minimum? A voice, that sounded like his friend Jaemin, said ‘yes’.

“I- “The Sun’s mouth had fallen open during Lucas’s rambling spiel, but it now snapped shout as he yelled, “You can’t possibly expect us to believe that!” At the same time that Mark rushed forward to help untie him.

Now that his brain had caught up to what was going on, Mark felt so bad for this poor man. He was just trying to live his best life and had ended up caught in some bullshit. “Dude, I’m so sorry that happened to you. That’s really shitty.” He apologised, reaching for one of his knives to start cutting at the rope.

Mark was rudely yanked back by Sun. A surprised and embarrassing squawk escaping his thin lips.

“Bro, you can’t seriously believe this shit.” He hissed. Mark didn’t know why he bothered lowering his voice, he’d barely moved them half a step from Lucas, the hostage definitely still able to hear.

“I mean…” Mark looked over, accidently catching Lucas’ eyes, the latter beamed at him and Mark was quick to turn away. Cheeks pink. “Yeah?” he shrugged. “You don’t?”

Sun crossed his arms and huffed, offended. “Of course not! What if he’s a plant? Assuming we got the same contract, then you know it said to eliminate _everyone_ in the house. This could be a test.”

Mark sighed. Sun was right, much to his chagrin. But his intuition was telling him that Lucas was completely harmless. 

“You know, going by that logic that means you should have killed me too.” He smirked, not that Sun could see, and watched as numerous emotions crossed his temporary partner in crime’s face before settling on an expression that let Mark know he’d won.

Mark stepped around Sun, and when the latter didn’t move to stop him, he smiled with his small victory. Kneeling down, he sawed at the knot keeping the rope up and chanced a glance up at Lucas. God his eyes were practically sparkling from this angle.

“Imma free you,” Mark explained, as if that wasn’t obvious, earning a wide smile from Lucas. Mark’s heart skipped a beat. “Please try to make some better friends.”

His eyes crinkled adorably as his smile stretched impossibly wider.

“Yes sir.”

Shoving a hand into the couple centimetres gap he’d left his window open at, Mark slowly forced it open and slid into his bedroom. Chancing a quick glance towards Jisung’s bed, he was relieved to find the lump his brother’s body formed moving softly with the rise and fall of his chest. Mark tip-toed to his bed and sunk into the mattress with a large sigh. He never realised how much his job took a toll on his body until he got home.

Sitting up, he rolled his left shoulder in the hope of easing the ache in his joints. Damn, he was far too young to be having bodily pains like this already, no matter how much Chenle may call him an old man.

“Hi, Mark.”

_Shit!_

Mark’s head snapped towards the other side of the room where his younger brother was sitting up in bed, black hair sticking up at all angles as one hand rubbed the sleep out of his eye.

“You have fun killing people?” His voice was heavy with sleep, and the words almost had to fight its way out his mouth, but his voice still carried in the near silent room.

Mark frowned. “Sungie, how many times do I have to tell you that’s not what I do?”

“How many times do I have to tell you that you being a mercenary is _far_ more believable than being some kind of rebellious spray painter?” Jisung sassed back, all previous traces of tiredness gone. “Really? You? A graffiti artist, you must think I’m stupid?” He huffed. By now the younger had turned on his bed side lamp and Mark cursed how intelligent his sibling was as he reached to do the same. He stayed hunched over so he could unlace his boots.

Silence filled the room as Mark worked to remove his work gear. Now that Jisung was awake, he didn’t have to worry about being quiet. Around ten minutes passed until Mark had successfully de-killing-geared himself and changed into the ratty old jumper and basketball shorts he wore to bed. Ruffling his light brown hair, Mark looked over at his brother who had started scrolling through his phone as he waited for Mark.

Truly, Jisung finding out had been an accident. Mark had amassed a sizeable knife collection over the years, both as a hobby and well… for his job. He thought blades were pretty, sue him. Whilst his parents had frowned about it at first, Jisung had always thought it cool in that way young boys still going through their TMNT phase did. The problem occurred when Jisung had caught him cleaning one during the summer. It had taken eight minutes and a lot of fussing to convince Jisung that he wasn’t injured and about thirty seconds for Mark to come up with the ridiculous cover story that it had gotten dirty when he’d used it to break into an abandoned junk yard to practice tagging. It was a stupid cover. Mark knew that. He just hoped Jisung would believe it.

He did not.

A quiet click sounded as Jisung locked his phone before levelling a scrutinising gaze at Mark. “Are you hurt?”

“No.”

He squinted. “Are you lying?”

“No.”

“Aight, goodnight.” And with that, Jisung turned off his lamp and burrowed under his covers.

Mark chuckled. Jisung may try and pretend he doesn’t care about Mark any more than he would a pet hamster, but he frets over him in his own way. Sungie was cute when he wanted to be.

Maybe Mark was a fool for taking a job on a Sunday night, but did the universe really need to punish him by having the bus break down. His body was still recovering from the strain his job puts it through and now he had to run to school.

On second thought, Mark shouldn’t have bothered running because he still turned up late. Despite the layers upon layers he’d been bundled in that morning to fight the frigid December temperatures, by the time he’d arrived he was down to his school’s black blazer. His face was a pink and sweaty mess as he apologised profusely to the teacher before taking his seat near the back of the class, ignoring the curious glances of his classmates and most of all, best friends. As class president, he tried to set a good example but sometimes his job really did take a lot out of him.

The bell signalled for break and his friends pounced on him. Mark didn’t even have to look up from his book to see when they all turned to him. They were like a pack of hyenas. And Mark, surrounded on all sides by the seating arrangement, was ample prey.

“Okay,” Jaemin began, sitting on his desk which was directly in front of Mark. As he ran a perfectly moisturized hand through his unruly black hair, a shit-eating grin spread across his face, as troubling as it was beautiful, Mark knew his peace was about to be disturbed. “Let’s start taking bets on why he was late.”

Mark groaned, flopping his head down onto the desk. He was beyond exhausted and really wasn’t sure if he had the energy to deal with his friends teasing right now. Couldn’t’ they just drop it for today?

“Absolutely not, babe.” Hyuck quipped with a condescending ruffle of Mark’s hair and wow Mark really needed to learn to stop thinking out loud. “Probably stayed up late doing homework like the nerd he is.” Hyuck offered up before glancing at Mark with a curled upper lip. “You look like shit.”

Mark almost wanted to point out that Hyuck didn’t look like he’d gotten much sleep either but Mark wouldn’t put it pass him to somehow mess it up and reveal the real reason they both looked like ass because yes, his best friend was also an assassin. But yes, Hyuck had no idea that Mark was too. Unlike his best friend, Mark actually tried harder to hide it. He used a voice changer, never showed more than half his face if it could be helped. Hyuck, on the other hand, wore a mask the consistency of tights. And not the thick woolly type you wore during winter but rather the flimsy almost see-through type. Adding to that, Hyuck had an ego the size of Jupiter which made it hard for him to keep most things a secret. He had almost slipped up a couple times.

“Don’t tease him, Hyuck.” Renjun warned, ever the voice of reason. If Mark could count on anyone in their group to show common sense it was Renjun (and Jeno, most of the time). Renjun was level-headed and focused, always had been for the six years that Mark had known him. He definitely the calmest one in their group, very rarely letting himself get drawn into Jaemin and Donghyuck’s antics. “He was probably fapping.”

Okay, so fuck that bitch.

Mark huffed, turning away from the laughing JaeRenHyuck trio to come face to face with Jeno’s kind face. 

Jeno! Cute and soft Jeno who had never had an unkind thing to say about anyone, his oldest friend, would definitely come to his rescue. Right? Mark looked up at him with bright and hopeful eyes. Jeno returned his gaze with his signature crescent eye smile. Mark could almost hear the angels singing as the winter sun streamed in from the window behind him, framing his dark hair.

“I agree with Renjun.”

_Wow._

Mark needed new friends.

It was a Thursday night and Mark was up to his usual business. Despite it being a school night, his current contract was offering a very large amount of money AND he only needed to take out three people, he would have been a fool not to take it. Mark reckoned this was going to be one of his easier jobs. Get in. Get it done. Get out. And home before Jisung’s even had a chance to fall asleep.

That was the plan at least.

Mark cursed quietly as he stepped in a puddle of God knows what in the alleyway. It was dark, smelly and littered with many other puddles of unknown substances. The brick walls almost black with the decades of dirt, grime and sludge that had stuck to its surfaces. He shuddered as a rat scurried from behind the bin, reminding himself to take a long shower when he got home. Mark was currently in a dingy alley behind a gang owned warehouse. It was a small one at the end of a mid-tier restaurant district. A storage unit for the Italian restaurant next door on the surface, but in reality, everyone knew it was used for drugs. The usual. Mark came across a small wooden door with green peeling paint. A single dim light hung above the door. This was his entry way.

Wrapping his hand in a cloth, Mark punched the small square of cracked glass, the shards making a soft tinkling sound as they bounced off the floor, reached his hand through the gap and unlocked the door from the inside. He pushed slowly pushed it open, the decaying door giving a tired groan. Immediately to his right upon entering the dimly lit hallway littered with cardboard boxes, was a staircase. Distantly he could hear voices echoing from further inside the building. Mark took the stairs, hoping it would lead him to somewhere with a vantage point. Depending on where the occupants were in the building, using a gun may be the better option. Luckily for Mark the staircase lead to an upper floor balcony that run the perimeter of the building. From there he could see the maze of carboard boxes bellow. His targets were in the middle, one sat at a table with cards whilst the other two seemed to be arguing about something. Unfortunately, there were several blind spots in the maze but it was okay. Mark had done more with less. Looking across from him, Mark saw another set of stairs which seemed to lead directly into the main room. Perfect.

Mark descended the steps as quietly as possible. He had no doubt in is mind that even if he tipped them off to his presence he would walk out fine in the next ten minutes but still, it saved him the effort. Cautiously, he made his way through the maze, the agitated voices of the gang lackeys guiding him as he drew closer. It seemed the two men were debating what to do with “him”. Who “him” was, Mark didn’t know. Nor did he care as long as “he” didn’t get in the way that night. Mark continued forwards until he was about 2 box rows away from the centre, he reckoned. He had travelled in a wide spiral pattern so that the initial hallway he had entered was hopefully somewhere behind him.

Through a gap between boxes, Mark could see the target still sat at the table. Guns, one either side of his body, on the table as his hands were preoccupied with a game of solitaire. He looked bored out of his mind, and heck, Mark could relate. He took ten steps to the right. He’d unsheathed one of his blades and twirled it effortlessly between his fingers. Another thin gap between boxes. And from here he could see the other two. One of them, a blonde, was wildly gesticulating with a gun in hand whilst the other seemed to be weapon-less. The extra gun on the table, Mark realised. If he took out the guy at the table first, he only had to deal with one potential weapon. As he plotted, Mark continued to take slow steps towards the right, weapon at the ready. However, he unexpectedly knocked into something.

Mark looked down.

“Er… Hi.”

“You again!” Mark shrieked, a hand clutched his chest as he leaped 6ft in the air, knocking over a tower of boxes and inevitably during the attention of his targets. But he couldn’t focus on that right now, not when Lucas was sat before him tied to a chair (again!) with a wide grin plastered to his face. There was only one explanation. “Are you stalking me?” And yes, it was a ridiculous question to ask because both times he had encountered him Lucas had undoubtedly been there first AND, in a position, that he clearly hadn’t put himself in but still… WTF.

Lucas’ mouth moved as he went to answer but they were interrupted by the panicked yells of the three gang members.

“Shit! It’s Min.” One of the gunmen exclaimed from behind him.

Right. Mark had a contract to fulfil. Mark looked like that caveman SpongeBob meme Jisung loved to use as his eyes flicked between Lucas and the three gang members. God, this was such a mess. The disturbance he’d caused had allowed the third member to pick up his gun and now Mark was outnumbered and his brewing plan had gone to shit. He had two choices. Fight or run. Fight or Run.

The choices swirled in his head. The blade in his hand behind his back twirled faster as his anxiety picked up. A bullet whizzed past his head and the choice was made for him. Wait… past his head? Lucas!

Mark chanced a quick glance behind him and found that the bullet had luckily missed the restrained man too, but that was a wakeup call. If Mark wanted to know just why Lucas had appeared in his life yet again, he would need him alive for that.

“Shit.” he cursed under his breath, before sprinting further right (and from the exit) in the hopes of drawing their attention.

The sudden movement caught them off-guard, the guards scrambling to recover from the shock before a hail of sporadic bullets followed Mark around the room like Pac-man’s ghosts. Mark took the knife in his right hand and threw it at the closest gunmen, the blade embedding itself in his hand causing the gun to fall to the ground with a clatter as he clutched at the bleeding wound with a scream. This gave Mark a chance. He crouched behind a stack of clingfilm wrapped packages for cover. His chest rising and falling quickly as he took a moment to catch his breath. As easy as breathing, Mark unsheathed three blades and launched them at the gunmen. Two hitting the disarmed gunmen whilst the third missed.

The bullets stopped and Mark used this gap in the assault to flee from his hiding position. He leapt onto the 5ft stack that he’d previously been crouched behind. Steadying himself before jumping to an almost identical one beside it, and then another before flipping off the edge and taking cover behind a stack of boxes twice his height.

One down.

Two to go.

Mark risked a glance from his cover to see just how close or far he was to the exit and was distressed by what he found. Shit. Shit. Shit.

“Fuck!” he hissed, fingers curling in his gloves. Why hadn’t considered that possibility? Damn it! Damn it all to hell.

Mark peered around the corner once more to check what he’d seen, and sure enough, there was Lucas, trembling as one of the two remaining goons pressed the cold barrel of the gun to his temple. “Come out now, Min, or the boy gets it.”

“What’s it to me?” Mark answered back, feigning indifference. As cruel as it was, to give Lucas any sort of value in their eyes would be worse. At least if they thought he didn’t care about him, there was a chance for them both to make it out of here alive.

One of them chuckled. It was a sly sound that made Mark’s skin crawl. “Come on, everyone knows you leave outsiders alone. You won’t let him die.” And as much as it pissed him off to hear it from that guy’s mouth, Mark knew he was right. Yes, he was a mercenary, but he still had morals (somehow).

With a sigh, Mark emerged from his hiding place with his hands held up either side of his head. A show of surrender. The blonde guy smirked, pleased that his little idea had worked.

The fool.

As soon as Mark was close enough, he slipped the blade that hid in the backs of his gloves between his fingers, flicking his wrist and aiming the blade at the head of the guy with the gun to Lucas’ head. Mark used the shock that befell the blonde to his advantage. Grabbing the hand that pointed the gun towards him, Mark pulled on the arm, using the momentum that the guy fell forwards with to twist himself round and land on the guys neck. Snapping it.

Mark stood upright. A harsh breath forced itself from his lips. That had been a lot.

Without thinking about it, Mark stepped over the slumped bodies on the floor and started to walk towards the exit.

“Erm… hi. Min, was it?” Lucas’ deep voice called out. “I’m kinda still tied up.”

“Not my problem.” Mark called over his shoulder. Mark didn’t care how cute he was, this was supposed to be an easy job and Lucas’ presence completely fucked it up. Forgive him for being a little childish.

“That’s cool. I can totally find my own way out.” Was his response and God damn it Mark could hear the pout in his voice. The image of a pouting Lucas caused him to pause in is steps.

_Save Lucas or go the fuck home?_

He groaned.

Mark was not the heartless bastard his job entailed which is why he found himself sat in a tiny greasy dinner shoved between a rundown newsagent and a boarded-up shop which probably used to be some kind of bar. Mark often found himself here when a mission left him with a rumbling stomach. He usually tucked himself into a small table in the corner. Hunching over in a way that told people not to bother him. The fact that he sometimes still had blood on him helped too.

Tonight, however, he had a smiling Lucas sat across from him.

“Dude, thank you so much for not leaving me back there.” Half his burger was around his mouth rather than in it but he didn’t seem to mind. Mark’s fingers twitched as he fought back the urge to wipe it away. Instead he focused the energy on picking at his order of fries, mask and voice modulator resting below his chin. Mark waited patiently for Lucas to finish wolfing down his food, watching the other’s puffy cheeks as he chomped on the food like a man starved. Mark shouldn’t have found it as cute as he did.

When Lucas finally finished with a large gulp of his coke Mark still had most of his chips in the basket. Lucas grinned at him in thanks for the meal, his eyes flicked to the chips and Mark held back a smile as he subtly pushed his basket towards Lucas, the other’s smile widening before he took a handful. How was it possible for one man to be this adorable? Mark was worried he’d implode if Lucas smiled at him again.

“So,” Mark started, relaxing back as much as he could in the cheap plastic chair. He thought about it for a second before choosing to remove his goggles, exposing his full face to his damsel in distress. “What happened this time?”

Mark finally had a weekend without any missions for the first time in about four months. He couldn’t wait to relax and do nothing (except his homework because he’s a good boy). Jisung, it seemed, had other plans.

Mark woke with a start as he felt something wet hit his cheeks. Sitting up far too quickly, he was met with the blurry figure of his younger brother at the bottom of his bed holding what looked like a cup. Mark glared. He reached over blindly to retrieve his glasses and after putting them on found that yes, it was Jisung and yes, he had a half full cup of water in his hands. His alarm clock told him it was only ten in the morning.

His glare intensified.

Taking a deep breath to school his annoyance, Mark scowled, “What. The fuck. Do you want, Jisung?”

“Mum said you have to take Chenle and I to the mall to buy Christmas presents.”

Mark sighed. “Did she really?” He huffed, flinging open the covers and swinging his legs out. This was the first he was hearing about this. He shoved his feet into his Pikachu slippers before stomping downstairs. Was it too much to ask for one (1) day of rest? Just one.

Two minutes later Mark returns to their room with a defeated look on his face. Jisung looks up from his phone, he was seated on _Mark’s_ bed with a smug smile on his face.

“Told you.”

_I’m blue da ba dee da ba daa_

“Dude, your bother has such lame taste in music.” He overhears Chenle not so quietly whisper to Jisung as they enter the mall. Mark glares at the back of head with a huff. _What does he know_? Next time he’s making them run behind the car. 

After making Jisung promise to meet him at the food court in two hours, even going so far as to setting an alarm on his phone, Mark let the young pair wonder off to get up to their own devices. He just hoped it wasn’t going to end in him having to apologise for yet another ruined display stand. As smart as Jisung was, he seemed to have no control over his hands.

 _Well_ … Mark thought as he looked around. What was he supposed to do now? He had at least two hours to go before they’d be returning home (and let’s be honest, there’s no chance the boys would come back on time). He figured that maybe shopping for Christmas presents wasn’t that bad of an idea. He had been so busy between school work and his extra-curricular job that he hadn’t even realised it was that close to the holiday. Now that he thought about it, they were breaking up for the holidays in two weeks. And wait… that meant winter exams. Shit! He’d forgotten. He had to start studying right now. He’d never been more thankful that he kept a copy of his class notes on his phone. Somewhere in the distance he could hear Hyuck calling him a nerd.

Yep, that was his day sorted. His whole weekend in fact.

Mark decided that the food court was the best place to set up his base of operations. He had quick access to snacks and he didn’t have to pack up to go dumbass-younger-brother and his poor-music-taste-best-friend hunting. Mark bought an order of curly fries, a large coke and settled into a somewhat clean table in the far corner of the food court.

It was about forty minutes later, with a straw twirling between his fingers and Kylie Minogue singing her heart out in his ears, when his peace was disturbed.

“Woah, so you can just do that with anything, not just knives?”

The voice, full of awe, caused Mark to freeze and drop the straw. He knows he probably looked like a deer in headlights but he couldn’t wipe the shocked expression off his face no matter how many times he told himself he looked stupid.

“Erm… is this seat taken?” Lucas asked but he had already pulled it out and plonked himself down in the metal chair.

Mark was staring.

Mark _knew_ he was staring. 

But he couldn’t help it. It was Lucas. Like actually Lucas right in front of his normie face. This was the first time Mark had met him not as Min and it was taking a while for him to process it. And to add to his pain Lucas looked great! Mark was sure the universe was fucking with him. Lucas looked amazing in a long trench coat over a black jumper, hair styled off his face for once rather than the sweat drenched mess Mark was used to seeing it like. On the other hand, Mark looked like complete ass (he thought). He’d just thrown on whatever he picked up first. Hell, he was sure his socks didn’t even match and his black hair was still the uncombed curly mess it always was in the morning. His glasses perched precariously on his nose and went great with the cardigan his grandma had gifted him last Christmas that was hanging off his frame.

Yep, the universe was fucking with him.

It seemed to be that Lucas had taken Mark’s silence for upset and quickly sought to explain himself. Holding up his hands in a show of surrender, he spluttered, “I promise I’m not up to anything. Its just that you’ve kinda spared my life twice and I want to make it up to you. Also… Imaythinkthatyouremaybekindareallycute”

“Huh?” Mark replied dumbly. Everything Lucas said going completely over his head. Maybe if he was paying attention, he would realise that Lucas kinda just admitted to somewhat tracking him down but his mind was just full of Lucas Lucas Lucas. Lucas’ smile. Lucas’ teeth. How they fuck were they so white? Why were his hands so large?

Lucas smiled and Mark felt his throat dry up. That large coke was useless! 

“I’m still not used to your voice without that thingy.” Lucas divulged. “It’s really cute, Min.”

“Mark.” Mark corrected without thinking, filing away the fact that Lucas thought his voice was “cute” as something to deal with later. “My name is Mark.” A voice, that vaguely sounded like Sun berated him for revealing his real name to a stranger. But was it still fair to call Lucas a stranger? Lucas lit up at the information and Mark thought secret identities be damned, he would give Lucas his address, house keys and passport to see that expression again.

“Your name is cute. Like you.” He grinned, earning a pained groan from Mark. Lucas was clearly out to kill him. Mark hid his reddening face in his sweater paws, his body curling in on itself. Peeking out, he playfully glared at the other. “Stop calling me cute. I can literally kill you.”

Lucas chortled. Clapping his hands in glee at the reaction. “I know but that’s kind of sexy, don’t you think?” He wiggled his eyebrows, in a manner that anyone with self-respect would think was the cheesiest and most unsexy thing someone could do. Lucky for Lucas, Mark hadn’t had his self-respect juice that morning.

Mark, and he almost couldn’t believe it himself, giggled. He fucking giggled. Like full on hand over mouth, pink cheeks, fluttering eyelashes giggled. He could only picture the disappointment that would coat Renjun’s face at the display whilst Donghyuck and Jaemin berated him because they’d taught him better than that.

“I’m glad that made you laugh.” Lucas smiled. He opened his mouth, as if to say something but closed it at second thought. Instead he stole one of Mark’s cold curly fries before regarding Mark for another moment.

Mark pretended he couldn’t tell Lucas was acting a little weird.

Lucas cleared his throat once again before shooting Mark a small smile. “Was it funny enough to maybe get your phone number?” He tried. Gone was his earlier bravado. His eyes wide and hopeful as he worried his bottom lip with nervousness.

Mark smiled, a small one that just lifted the corners of his mouth. He felt flushed, and struggled to look up from the table. He was scared if he saw Lucas’ face, he might just embarrass himself by proposing. “I don’t know… maybe.”

“Oh my god, what the fuck.”

_No._

_No no no._

_Please God, no._

Mark prayed. Eyes closed and head tilted to the ceiling.

“Dude, your brother’s like… flirting. Or trying to.”

 _Shit_. He was definitely on the universe’s hit list. Or maybe part of some alien reality show where they vote on how to get him in the most embarrassing positions possible. Mark sincerely wondered what he’d done in his life (other than kill a couple, more like a hundred, people) to be getting punished like this. Of all the times in his life Jisung decided to be early to anything he chose NOW. Mark could feel a mixture of embarrassment, annoyance and awkwardness bubbling beneath his surface and he was either going to explode or get the heck out of dodge.

“WHEN DID YOU GET HERE?” It seemed he’d chosen explode.

Jisung shrugged. “Sometime around being glad to make you laugh, which let me tell you bro,” he turned to Lucas, “is really easy to do. I’ve seen him laugh at his toes for like fifteen minutes.”

Nope. Nope. Nope. This wasn’t happening. There was no way in hell Mark was about to let Jisung get any further acquainted with Lucas. Absolutely not. 

“Okay, it was nice to see you Sungie. Lele.” He stood up; the metal chair let out an awful sound that had a couple heads turning their way. Reaching into his pockets he produced a handful of bills and quickly thrust them into the younger’s hand. “Here’s some money, go to the arcade or something.” He pat the pair of them on the back, not so discreetly trying to usher them away but Jisung resisted.

“Hey Mr,” he turned to the clueless man still sat at the table, “what’s your name?” Oh, whatever Jisung was up to Mark didn’t like it. Nope, not one bit. Mark wondered what his brother was playing at. He knew an evil genius when he saw one, and Jisung had a particular taste for plotting against Mark. Lucas however, the poor trusting man, could not see that. The smile that appeared on his face could not be described as anything less than heart-warming and Mark almost wanted to scream at him to get out whilst he could.

“It’s Yukhei.” He answered, teeth glinting in the fluorescent lights of the food court.

Jisung beamed. Eyes forming little crescents. “Okay Yukhei, I look forward to being your brother in law. You seem cool.” And with that, the pair ran off, giggling at having played Mark out of some money.

Mark sighed as he watched their frames get smaller. That was exhausting. Very exhausting. More than that time he had to take on ten guys by himself because he’d left his sound on and they’d found his position from Jeno calling to ask what the next day’s homework was. With drooping shoulders, Mark walked back over to the table and slumped down in his chair.

“So, I take it you know those kids.” Lucas chuckled.

Mark groaned, head thrown back as he imagined the ground opening up and swallowing him whole. With a loud exhale and a light flush to his face, he met Lucas’ teasing gaze. “Yeah, that was my lil bro and his best friend.” Mark might as well tell Lucas everything. His ‘secret identity’ was more than compromised.

Pause.

“Wait, you told us your name was Lucas.” He realised. Eyes narrowing, he threatened, “I hope you didn’t just lie to my little brother.” Because Jisung may have been a lil shit but he was Mark’s favourite lil shit and he wouldn’t take no one playing his bro for a fool.

“I didn’t!” Lucas defended, holding his hands up once again. “Yukhei is also my name.”

Mark smirked because who was he to judge, he also had several names he went by. “I don’t know many people with more than two names who are up to any good.”

Lucas grinned. “I can promise you, the only goods of yours I’m interested in is…”

“Oh my god! Don’t finish that sentence.” Mark squealed, slapping his hand over Lucas’ mouth as he looked around to see if Jisung and Chenle were any where close. Mark’s small hand did nothing to muffle Lucas’ resulting laughter and Mark pulled back with a small pout on his face. How dare he make him all flustered in public AND have the audacity to laugh at him.

Lucas’ big body shook as he continued to laugh, throwing his limbs around carelessly as he hiccupped with giggles, despite the stares they were getting from other shoppers. It was cute, Mark found, how carefree Lucas seemed to be. He was just vibing, unapologetically being himself and living life even if that meant accidentally befriending gang members or tracking down a killer just because he thought he was somewhat good looking.

Mark watched Lucas laugh. Not in a creepy way but more so a wow his eyes really sparkle when he has tears of laughter in them way. In a how is it possible for someone to have teeth that perfect, a smile that perfect? In a his fingers look so pretty as he tries to stifle his sounds way. In the crinkle around his eyes that were currently looking at him and oh…

Yep, Mark’s breath definitely got stuck in his throat.

Well… it looks like someone has a bad case of crush.

“Who’s that?” Hyuck’s voice sounded from beside his ear.

He jumped in his chair. Mark and Lucas had exchanged numbers after their meet up at the mall and Lucas, it seemed, was an avid texter. Mark had almost gotten his phone confiscated due to its constant buzzing around the dinner table. But Mark didn’t mind. If he was being honest, he was glad to have someone new to talk to in his life (no offense to his friends and family but most new people Mark met also died within a couple seconds of doing so). The pair exchanged messages constantly. Mark found out that Lucas was originally from Hong Kong and that they were the same age. He also found out that Yukhei really _really really_ wanted to accompany him on one of his missions. If Mark didn’t have his pencil or a knife in his hand then chances were his fingers were occupied with texting Yukhei. That familiarity is what lead to him making the mistake of texting him in his friends’ presence. 

“Who’s what?” Mark tried to hide his screen from the prying eyes of his best friend but he was too slow as Jaemin had swiped it from his hand before he even got a chance to lock it, a weak ‘Hey, give that back’ leaving his lips as his head whipped to Hyuck’s partner in pestering.

“Ooooo, his name’s Yukhei.” Jaemin chirped, before tossing the phone back to Mark. The latter pouted as he locked the device and held it to his chest protectively. He should have known better than to text Lucas whilst in school. His friends were like a dog with a new chew toy if they sensed any new material to tease Mark with.

“Yukhei? Who’s that?” Jeno asked as he walked up to their table.

Mark wanted to tell him that it was no one and that maybe they should take a couple classes on minding their business but he knew very well that that would just make them more curious.

It’s not like Renjun let him get a chance anyways because without even looking up from his book, he responded, “Mark’s new bae.”

 _Wow_. He thought Renjun was supposed to be on his side.

“He’s not my ‘bae’.” Mark protested, glaring at Renjun and finding himself glad that there was only two more days until school broke up for the holidays. The boy sending him a cheeky wink in return as Jeno watched the exchange with his head tilted cutely.

“Really?” Jaemin pondered, taking one of the snacks Jeno had just walked in with before parking his ass on his table. “It sure looked like it. He was talking about some kind of rooftop picnic.”

Mark thanked the lord for Jaemin’s poor eyesight because Lucas definitely _hadn’t_ been requesting a simple rooftop picnic. Mark wished his life was that simple. Lucas was, in fact, trying to convince Mark to let him accompany him on one of contracts, which, if Jaemin had been paying attention to and realised, would have left Mark with a wave of questions he had no intentions of answering.

“ROOFTOP?!” Hyuck spluttered, clutching his stomach as he giggled. “Bro, are you dating spiderman?”

Oh, how Mark wanted to explain that if anyone was spiderman in the relationship it was him. Wait, relationship? Mark was letting his daydreaming go too far, they weren’t in a relationship. Sure, hypothetically speaking, Mark wouldn’t _mind_ being in a relationship with Lucas. Not at all. The elder was funny, cute, adorable and didn’t mind that he was technically a serial murderer, so he definitely ticked all the boxes but…

But… what?

Mark had to ask himself. What exactly was stopping him from saying yes to Yukhei when he already knew Mark’s biggest, darkest and definitely relationship ruining secret?

Mark yelped as a hard copy of _Gone Girl_ hit the back of head. He turned in his chair to glare at Hyuck as he rubbed the sore spot.

The younger simply smiled in return. “I don’t know what you’re thinking about, but I know you’re over thinking it. Just go with the flow, man.” Hyuck leant back in his chair, arms folded behind his head. “Relax.”

 _Hm_. Mark thought that was the smartest thing Donghyuck had said in years. And he was right. He admired Lucas for the way he seemed to always find the light in dark situations. His life had been threatened twice in the span of a month but his smile was yet to dim. Mark figured he should take a leaf out his book.

“That’s the smartest thing you’ve said in years.” Renjun gibed, nose still buried in his book.

“Hey!” Hyuck shot. “Fuck you, Huang Renjun.”

“How did you get into this business?”

Mark and Lucas had been sat on the rooftop of a brick building downtown for the better part of an hour. Mark had taken the leap of faith and agreed to Lucas’ mission date idea. Unluckily for Lucas, Mark hadn’t taken on any contracts seeing as it was the Christmas holiday so it had been postponed for two weeks. With Christmas and New Year passing, Mark now only had the start of the new term, starting the upcoming week, on his schedule. They had tried to meet up during the time, but Mark had been booked between friend, family and church requirements. It didn’t stop them from talking continuously, though. Mark had woken up to a paragraph long Christmas message filled with lots of emojis and a dancing Santa gif. And yes, he had stared at it for at least ten minutes every day since. Yet somehow, as they found themselves sat on this rooftop in the first week of the year, they hadn’t stopped chattering once. Somehow, they still had more to learn about each other.

“Well,” Mark hummed, although it sounded rather funny with his voice modulator on, leaning back onto his palms. He had a feeling this question would come up eventually. He briefly wondered if it was too soon, if he was letting Lucas in too quickly. Reckless. But he chanced a glance over at the elder, his nose was red from the cold but his lips bore a soft smile and Mark knew that he could trust him.

“I’ve been learning taekwondo since I was young and I was really good at it, but that’s not like the reason. I didn’t just wake up one day like ‘hey it would be super cool to murder a bunch of people’, it was kind of an accident really. And really super cliché.” He groaned. “I was going home and this fucker tried to rob me and I stopped him and maybe killed him in the process but it was his fault I swear!” Mark enthused earnestly. He didn’t want Lucas to think he was some kind of crazed murderer who did this for shits and giggles. He’d just accidentally discovered he had a penchant for murder, and figured that he could make a lot of money out of it. So maybe he was a low-life capitalist but most definitely _not_ a crazed murderer.

Lucas smiled softly at him, gripping his floundering hands as he soothed, “It’s okay, baby, you don’t have to explain yourself to me.”

Baby? Oh. That was new. New. New. New. Mark tried to pretend that Lucas calling him ‘baby’ didn’t just cause his brain to short circuit but it was really hard. He reckoned he looked rather comical as he blinked at Lucas. His goggles on his head.

Snide laughter, that Mark unfortunately recognised, interrupted the moment. “Aw what is this, you’re replacing me already?” The Sun pouted. He was stood by the entrance of the fire-escape with his arms crossed. “And with the enemy no less. My my,” he tutted, walking forward with slow steps, “how the mighty have fallen.”

Mark glared at his advancing figure. Curse words were spewing from his mouth, beneath his breath. “Have you put a tracker in me or something, why do you keep showing up?” Mark demanded. His arms were now crossed too, and his eyebrows were almost meeting in the middle with how deep he frowned. Mark knew his peaceful ‘date’ with Lucas was ruined because if there was one thing he knew, it was that peace and Hyuck were like the same side of a magnet. They were not allowed to exist in the same space. You most definitely got one without the other.

“Wow,” Sun held his hands up in defence, “is that any way to talk to your ex-partner?”

“EX? PARTNER?” Mark, exclaimed. Oh my god, Hyuck had lost his damn mind. Mark almost wanted to check the younger’s head for lumps in case he’d banged it on his way up here.

By this point he had lain on the concrete roof, arm dramatically thrown across his face. “Yes, it used to be me by your side, covering your back, but now you’ve taken this noob,” he fake-sobbed. Mark rolled his eyes. This was getting ridiculous, which is how he knew his alien reality show must be nearing its last season. “Who I’m still 97% sure is a spy.” Sun levelled a glare at Lucas.

“Oh my god. Lucas, please ignore him!” Mark begged. Although, if they continued on the path they were going it is likely that Lucas was going to have to deal with Hyuck’s bullshit, in fact all of his friends’ bullshit, in the future. But still… “He’s chatting shit.”

“Hehe,” Sun giggled like the cockblocking demon he was, rolling onto his front and resting his head in his palms, “can’t I joke with my friend, Min?”

Mark raised an eyebrow. “Friend?”

Sun rolled his eyes as he waved a dismissive hand. “Friend. Acquaintance. Friend-with-murder. Whatever you want to call it.”

Mark couldn’t believe his ears. If ever there was a competition on sprouting rubbish, Mark was sure Hyuck would be reigning champ for decades. At least Mark was used to it by this point and knew to take his rambling like a pinch of salt but poor Yukhei, his sweet, innocent Yukhei was probably overwhelmed right now. Even as Mark glanced at him, the elder looked like he was deep in thought. Lips pursed and a long middle finger tapping his chin. His mind was probably battling between Sun’s blatant dislike of him and this fictitious relationship he was painting between the two assassins… but Mark should have learned by now that Lucas never reacted in the way Mark expected.

“I like you.” Lucas declared, a wide and blinding smile on his face.

“Well, I don’t like you. I think you’re suspicious.” Sun sneered, and Mark was pretty sure he’d stuck his tongue out beneath the mask. God, he was so childish.

Mark needed to wrap this up. “This has been fun and everything, Sun, but I kind of have a contract to fulfil so if you could go…”

“Oh, you have a contract?” Sun perked up, suddenly on his feet. Mark had a bad feeling. “It would be a shame if someone, not saying me, but _someone_ , not me, went in there and completed it before you, right?”

Mark seethed. “Don’t you even think-” but Sun had already disappeared down the fire escape.

Damn it! He’s so annoying. Mark thought it was a special talent to be able to annoy him in every facet of his life so it was only fitting that Donghyuck possessed it. The stupid idiot. Did he even know what the contract was? Who Mark was preparing to deal with? This was a direct hit on King J and definitely not something someone could just waltz into with no plan. Maybe if Mark wasn’t so distracted, he would be wondering why so many of his recent missions were related King J, but 95% of his brain had been occupied with Lucas. And now he had to worry about Hyuck’s impulsive ass.

The sound of muffled gunshots reached their ears and Mark sighed. He can’t believe Hyuck had managed to cockblock _and_ kill-block him as Sun. Part of him almost wanted to leave him to deal with it himself but he could never and would never abandon him no matter how annoying he was. He was still his best friend.

Mark sighed heavily as he stood up, brushing the dirt off his pants before lowering his goggles. He turned to Lucas.

“Stay here.” He commanded.

Lucas squawked, scrambling to his feet to grip Mark’s hand. “But I can help.” He pleaded.

Mark was baffled, eyebrows disappearing beneath his beanie. “You fight?” He questioned, briefly wondering how Lucas had managed to get caught up in so much bullshit if he could throw a good punch let alone simply how big he was. But then again Lucas did seem to be the pacifist type so maybe he’d simply refused to defend himself.

“No, but I can use a gun.” He grinned wolfishly. “Really fucking well.”

Hm. Maybe Sun was right to be suspicious… but also Mark found the thought of Lucas with a gun, and not just Lucas with a gun but like, Lucas _killing_ someone with a gun really really hot and yeah, he probably needed therapy. Oh well, that can go in the deal with later cabinet.

Well, Sun had compromised their entrance so they were going to have to find another way in. Mark figured it shouldn’t be too hard. He had spent the week memorizing the layout of the building, figuring out back-up plans just in case something went wrong (but somehow, he hadn’t factored in a wild Donghyuck showing up). Mark just prayed that Hyuck was skilled enough to hold his own until they made their appearance. Heck, he knew Hyuck was more than skilled to protect himself (how he got those skills, Mark was still unsure) but he’d rushed in head first (like usual) and may not have anticipated the level of threat and now that Mark thought about it the sound of gunshots had died out and God, Mark didn’t want to think about it, but what if they had overpowered him. What if…

“Hey.” Lucas’ soft call snapped him out of his spiralling thoughts.

With firm hands, Lucas took Mark’s face in his palms, thumbs stroking over the exposed apple of Mark’s cheeks. Looking down into the younger’s glassy eyes, he tried to reassure him with a small smile. “Your friend, Sun, will be okay. We will help him, don’t worry. Just tell me what to do.”

Mark barely spared the body a glance as he stepped over it, pointing it out to Lucas to make sure the elder didn’t trip over it. This was clearly an area Sun had already been through. Mark had lost count of the number of bodies they’d passed but he also wasn’t paying them much attention. Each body meant another person they didn’t have to factor in as a threat. It was also a good sign that Hyuck had held his own.

Mark continued forward, body lowered but gun at shoulder height. Behind him, Lucas was in a similar position albeit with less grace. Mark’s impromptu plan was to:

  1. Locate Donghyuck
  2. Put Lucas somewhere safe
  3. Save Donghyuck
  4. Get the heck out of there



The hallways were void of the noise of combat, so Mark could only assume that Hyuck had been captured and subdued. He hoped…

Silently, the pair creeped up the stairs, Mark poked his head around the corner to check if it was clear before signalling Lucas to follow him. This floor too had a couple bodies scattered around it and Mark couldn’t help but be impressed at the fight the younger had so clearly put up. The sound of a conversation travelled towards them.

He paused, turning to Lucas to whisper, “I’m going to check that out. Stay here and-”

Mark’s sentence was interrupted by the sound of two thuds, one after the other. With a slack jaw, Mark looked behind him, seeing the two bodies on the floor before turning back to Lucas, the end of his gun still smoking.

_I-_

Mark was flabbergasted. Lucas smiled sheepishly. His eyes obscured somewhat by Mark’s spare goggles but his teeth gleamed in the darkened hallway.

“Erm… was I not supposed to do that?”

Mark had so many questions. _So_ many questions. And they were all about to go unanswered as the sound of feet running towards them echoed through the hall.

“Shit.” He cursed softly. “Okay, listen to me. You stay here and watch my back, okay? I’m going to the other end of the hall, hopefully they’ll encounter me first but take out who you can.”

Lucas nodded. Lips thinned into a determined line. Mark thought it was cute.

Luckily for them, there didn’t seem to be many people left on that floor and they were done in ten minutes. The pair pressed on through the building, with Mark taking out enemies from behind using his blades and Lucas catching those that slipped through before Mark even realised. When this was all said and done, Mark was really going to have to question him on where he got his skills from because, regrettably, he was starting to believe there was some truth to Hyuck’s accusations. Mark figured they must be close to where they were keeping Hyuck because the number of guards was increasing. By this point Mark had calculated that they had more or less moved in some kind of bridge pattern, working their way up one side and down the other. If his mental map was correct, then they were only one or two floors from the bottom, and there were very few places they may be keeping Hyuck. Mark was just praying that he was actually still in the building and this hadn’t all been for nought.

“Hey.”

Mark stopped at the feeling of his jacket being tugged, turning around to face Lucas. His face was covered in a thin sheen of sweat and Mark tried very hard not to watch it drip down his jaw.

“There’s a lot of light coming from that corridor down there… I think it might be important.” Lucas offered, and sure enough there did appear to be more light coming from the opening a couple hallways down.

Mark looked back at Lucas with a bright smile (not that he could see it) and praised, “Good job!”

Lucas preened.

On their knees, they quickly moved to the glowing hallway, Mark peaking in for just a second to see two guards standing outside a door where he could hear raised voices. One sounded _very_ familiar. Mark leant back against the wall, tears prickling his eyes because in all honesty, he had started to give up hope. Aside from the dead goons, there had been no sign that Hyuck had even breathed in this building let alone was still there. Taking a deep breath to steal his nerves, he turned to Lucas and pulled his mask down to begin relaying their plan.

In the time it had taken Mark to blink, Lucas had floored the two guards. The pair fell to the floor in a heap and a dull thud that was sure to attract attention but it didn’t matter. This would soon be over anyways.

As Mark expected, the door was opened by a guard who must have been sent to check on the noise and failed to shut when his body blocked the entrance way. Quick as a flash, Mark dashed forward through the open door, keeping a low stance to avoid any bullets that may come flying his way. It took him a second to adjust to the brightness of the room that was absent in the rest of the building, but once he had he found that he was in some kind of office. An abandoned one if the layer of dust that coated everything was anything to go by. At the other end of the room was a door that looked like it led to a smaller inner office. That for sure must have been were they were keeping Hyuck. The only problem was that there was about ten gang lackies in-between him and that room, stationed between the cubicles like this was some kind of retro video game. But if anything, this was a problem for them.

Because if there was one thing _Min_ knew how to do, it was clear a room.

(Especially with Lucas covering his back from the entrance, Mark didn’t think he’d ever had a fight so easy.)

He grinned, eyes narrowing with focus. He resembled a lion about to pounce. And pounce he shall. Mark leapt onto the desk, sending a bunch of stationaries that littered its surface to the floor. With his left hand he flung a blade between the brows of one as his right sent another into the throat of a guy two rows down. His feet barely touched the desk of the next cubicle before he was launching off to the third row, gun drawn and shooting at two guys to his right whilst Lucas took out another two on his left from somewhere behind him. By this point, the remaining guards had recovered from their shock and now took aim at him.

Mark twirled over the third row of cubicles, landing softly in the fourth row. Staying low once more, he heard the sound of boots approaching him and shot out his left leg, tripping the guy up and pushing a blade into his exposed neck before his back had even touched the floor. Out of the corner of his eye, Mark registered someone falling at the other end of the row.

Two left.

 _Thud_.

One left.

This one was right outside of the smaller office door. Just one more obstacle before they could save Hyuck and get the fuck out of there. The guard was clearly panicked. Head whipping side to side as he struggled to anticipate where the next attack would come from. _Aww must suck to be him._ Too bad Mark didn’t care.

With blades in hand, Mark propelled himself into the man like a line-backer. The force of the movement knocked them both over, but Mark used the momentum to drive the blades deep into his chest. A weak cough stained his lips with blood and Mark grimaced.

When he stood up, Lucas was suddenly at his side, gun still drawn.

“Are you okay?” he questioned.

Mark chuckled. “Are _you_?” Because he was used to this. It was he who should be worrying about the elder.

“Fantastic.” Lucas beamed.

 _Great._ Mark returned the smile, lifting his hand to display three fingers before he started counting down.

3…

2…

1…

Mark kicked the door open. The glass shattering as the door bounced off the wall. There inside the room, which was indeed a smaller office like Mark had theorized, was a restrained Hyuck, _Sun_ , who glared at them as they entered guns raised.

“Took you long enough.” He complained and Mark almost considered walking back out then and there.

“I knew you wouldn’t have come alone.” And oh, there was someone sat on the large wooden desk behind Sun. Mark hadn’t even realised. Now actually paying attention to the man, Mark thought he looked familiar. He wore a suit. An actual good-looking, well fitting, not outlandish, like Mark was used to seeing on these gangsters, suit. His long legs stretched out, an ankle crossed over the other. His hand held a pistol which Mark belatedly realised was pointed at Sun’s head. His hair was a chestnut brown and perfectly styled with a middle parting. Mark wasn’t above admitting that this guy was really good-looking. He had a kind of classic American style beauty and ohhhhhh.

Mark realised why he looked so familiar.

This was Johnny. One of King J’s top men. What the fuck was he doing in such a low-level hide-out like this? He shouldn’t be here. He wasn’t on the hitlist and whilst Mark was prepared the the consequences of taking out a couple dozen gang members like the contract entailed, Johnny was NOT in that equation. If he didn’t know any better, he’d think someone was setting him up. Too many of his King J related missions had gone awry and whilst he’d definitely taken out more important targets. They were rarely people so close to home. He did have to live a normal life in Seoul after all and

Johnny fell forward to the ground, a pool of red slowly began to encircle him. His pistol had made a loud clattering sound as it hit the floor.

Mark once again found himself staring back at Lucas.

“Was I not supposed to do that?” He asked sheepishly, the hand that wasn’t holding the _still_ smoking gun rubbed at his neck.

“No.”

“Yes.”

Mark and Sun answered at the same time, both turning to shoot daggers at each other.

Mark sighed, turning back to Lucas. With a soft tone, he started, “He wasn’t on the list, sweetie and he was-”

“Totally about to shoot me. You did good kid.” Sun interrupted. “Still don’t like you.”

“Maybe getting shot would teach you NOT to go running into other people’s assignments,” Mark seethed, fists clenched to which Sun only stuck his tongue out. His mask had been pulled up over his nose so Mark could actually see it this time.

 _You know what._ Donghyuck was clearly okay. And Mark thought that, between the three of them, it was safe to say the building had been effectively cleared. Mark tossed his spare gun into Sun’s lap, the younger looked down at it before looking back at Mark with narrowed eyes as if to ask what it was for.

Hyuck was safe. His contract was complete.

So, with that finished, Mark took Lucas’ hand and began to walk out of the room. He wanted nothing more than to get home, shower and sleep. He reckoned that Lucas probably felt the same. It had been a long night. Mark was at least used to this kind of work but Lucas wasn’t… he hoped. That doubt Hyuck had planted taking seed in the back of his mind.

“Are you really going to leave me here?” Sun whined, kicking his feet furiously to the best of his ability and almost toppling the chair over.

“Yep,” Mark answered without looking back, “you’ll figure it out.”

The pair once again found themselves on the rooftop. The sky was a dusty pink as Seoul welcomed a new day. A Sunday, Mark realised, which meant he had church in about six hours. The was no way he’d be able to get home in time to catch anything more than an hour’s sleep. If he could even manage to fall asleep with all the adrenaline still pumping through his body. However, Mark was getting ahead of himself. First, he needed to deal with Yukhei. Make sure he was alright.

The elder was stood opposite him, chest rising and falling rapidly as the same adrenaline that coursed through Mark flowed through him. He had taken the blue bobble hat he’d had on off, revealing his damp hair. Next to go was the goggles which had left a ring impression on his flushed face. Mark giggled at that.

“So,” Lucas mumbled, wringing his hat nervously in his hands. “How did I do? I hope I didn’t fuck up things too bad… and is it really okay to leave your friend down there…”

Any questions Mark had for him were thrown out the window as he took in just how dishevelled he looked and just how _good_ it made him look. God. Did Mark look that good when he finished a mission or was this level of hotness reserved only for people on Adonis’ level? And despite how cold Hyuck had treated him, he was still worried about him and damn it, he just had the biggest heart and the biggest, softest, puppy dog expression to match. Mark was a fool for letting Hyuck’s words get to him.

“Oh my god, you were amazing!” Mark praised honestly as he remembered all the excellent shots the elder had pulled off. He was as quick with a gun as Mark was with a knife. “Where did you learn how to shoot like that?”

“Paintballing.” Lucas answered with a smile and of course! Of course, it was something cute as fuck like that, and not insidious like Lucas was actually some kind of trained spy tasked with bringing in Mark or a traumatised loved one out for revenge and wow Mark kinda really wanted to kiss him right now. Right on his pouty plump lips.

“So, do it.” Lucas whispered.

“Huh?” Mark uttered, suddenly very very sober.

Lucas brought one of his BFG sized hands to Mark’s nape, the other circling around his waist to draw him closer. His large eyes bored down into the younger’s but they were clear. Full of nothing but determination and a fondness Mark was starting to believe was aimed at him. “Kiss me.”

_Fuck._

And Mark barely had a chance to take a small breath before he was moving forward, their lips meeting in the middle. Both pairs were chapped slightly from the cold weather, but warmth bloomed in Mark, spreading until it warmed his cheeks. Shakily, he brought his hands up to cup Lucas’ cheeks as he tilted his head to deepen the kiss, leaving behind dots of bloodstains along his cheekbones.

The alien audience cheered and the credits started to roll as inside Mark’s mind the usual chorus of Lucas Lucas Lucas started to the tune of his ~~shitty~~ _amazing_ europop music.

_The kisses of the sun_

_were sweet_

_I didn’t blink_

_la la la lala_


	2. Chapter 2

Mark couldn’t stress how glad he was to be back at school after all the bullshit that had taken place this weekend. Wow, maybe he was a nerd. But being back in his home room felt like something of a safe space for him. Jeno and Jaemin were bickering about Jae’s coffee addiction whilst Donghyuck was hovering over a very focused Renjun, obviously planning on breaking that focus. It was familiar. Comforting. And Mark revelled in it.

“Hey, Mark,” one of his classmates, Xiaojun, called out to him. The boy was sat with his usual group of friends, Hendery and Yangyang, and all three were looking at him with expectant faces. “What do you think about the new guy?”

The new what? “I wasn’t aware we were getting a new guy.” Mark chuckled awkwardly.

Hendery gaped. “Really bro? I thought it was your job or something, being the class prez and all.”

“Haha yeah,” Mark mumbled, somewhat embarrassed. “I was really busy this weekend so I must have missed the email. I hope he got around okay.” Mark frowned, feeling a bit guilty. He vowed he’d make it up to the new kid later.

Yangyang smiled. It was dazzling and brilliant. “Don’t sweat it bro, it happens to everyone.” And with that, their little crew turned back around to the Nintendo switch that occupied Hendery’s desk.

Mark might have to cut back on assignments if it was going to start affecting his school-life. Matter of fact, maybe there was time to meet this guy before class started. Looking at the wall clock, Mark found that there was still half n hour before class started and moved to tell his friends that he’d be back soon when they class door banged open. Everyone’s heads turned to the door frame.

His jaw dropped. _No fucking way._

“You have to be kidding me.” Mark vaguely registered Hyuck muttering.

In the door frame stood a significantly redder than usual looking Lucas. His shirt crumpled and tie hanging loose around his neck. A familiar picture. He scanned the classroom and beamed when his eyes landed on Mark and it was only then that Mark began to panic. He was about to blow his cover, wasn’t he?

“Hey, Mark! It’s me!” Lucas boomed. Waving a large hand in the air frantically as the other clutched at his backpack which was threatening to fall down his shoulder.

At that, every pair of eyes in the room suddenly turned to Mark. “Erm… haha. Hi, Lucas. Sorry for bumping into you outside earlier.” Mark stammered, fixing Lucas with a look he hoped read ‘now is neither the time nor place’. The larger boy paused in his steps. Head tilting to the side cutely before his eyes widened as the pin dropped.

“Erm…” He stalled, cheeks flushing a furious red.

Luckily, he was saved by a smirking Jaemin who interjected, “OMG Mark! I can’t believe you’ve been flirting with people behind your boyfriend’s back.” It seemed his friends were misunderstanding his stunted response as being due to getting flustered.

“Yeah, Mark! What the fuck?!” Jeno joined, pushing Mark’s shoulder playfully.

“What will Yukhei think?” Renjun added with a shake of his head.

Looking around, it seemed all his friends were getting ready to tease him and Mark felt he could breathe a sigh of relief. He’d panicked for no reason.

Ha! Incorrect.

One moment Mark is sat on his desk and the next he is in the corridor with a wild looking Donghyuck. Right. He’d forgotten about Donghyuck. The younger had released his wrist and was now standing across from him with his arms folded and his brow furrowed.

“Wow.” He began. “It’s you. You’re Min, aren’t you?” He accused.

For the three years he’d been doing this, and he doesn’t know why, it never occurred to Mark that there was a chance of Donghyuck finding out. And really that was stupid of him. A gross oversight. But due to it, he was at a loss for words. How do you respond when your best friend accuses you of being a well-known assassin?

Hyuck took his silence as confirmation. “Wow, I can’t believe it!” He blurted. “Church boy, Mark Lee is Min. I should have known. That kind of music taste is one of a kind. You scold me for not turning in homework but you’re out here KILLING people!”

Mark grimaced at the words (and volume). Grabbing Hyuck’s arm, he pulled him further from the classroom. “Ssshh Hyuck, tell the whole school why don’t you.”

Donghyuck wrenched his arm out of Mark’s grip, spinning around to level him with a glare. “I thought killing people was a sin, Mark, hmmm. You fucking hypocrite.” He spat, before he launched into a whole new rant about fake friends keeping secrets from him. Mark couldn’t tell if he was more upset about what Mark was doing or just the fact that he hadn’t told him, and could only stare at the floor guiltily. “Wait,” the younger paused, bringing Mark’s attention back to him. “Have you realised that I’m Sun? Why don’t you seem surprised that I’m Sun?”

Hyuck gasped. Hands flying up to his mouth and his eyes grew impossibly wide.

“DID YOU KNOW?!”

Mark chuckled. “Your brand of annoying is one of a kind so yeah, I kinda put two and two together.”

Hyuck’s mouth snapped shut. “Wow. Wow. Fuck you Mark Lee.” He fumed, complete with a middle finger and all. “YOU LEFT ME TIED TO A CHAIR ON SATURDAY!”

“Fuck me?!” Mark shot back. “Maybe you should have tried harder to conceal your identity. A face mask isn’t doing much when you have that mouth, is it?

“YOU’VE THROWN LIKE FIVE KNIVES AT ME.”

“They missed, didn’t they? If I wanted to hit you, I would have.” Mark defends, although he at least has the decency to look at least a little guilty.

Hyuck goes slack jawed once again and Mark briefly thinks if revealing his biggest secret is the best way to get Hyuck to shut up then he might have to do it more often. But then the corner of his mouth twitches up into a smirk that Mark knows spells trouble and the idea is quickly discarded. Mark braces himself for whatever bullshit is about to leave Hyuck’s mouth.

“You know what… hearing you talk like that is kinda hot you know.” The younger purred.

“Oh, shove off it Hyuck.” Mark groaned, pushing his giggling best friend away but he was glad to hear the sound. It confirmed that Hyuck wasn’t really angry and that they’d be okay. Mark would hate for a little knife throwing to get between best friends.

Once their laughter had died down, Hyuck regained his attention with a slight cough. His hand rubbed at his nape and he looked a little sheepish. “So er, what do you say to teaming up? I’m sure we could make more money as a duo.” He proposes.

Mark hums, index finger to his chin like he’s contemplating it just to make Hyuck squirm a little. He focuses back on his friend with a grin. “That doesn’t sound like a complete nightmare.”

Hyuck beams back at him, happy with his answer, before he makes a soft noise that tells Mark he’s had another thought. “Also, what are we gonna do about our Lucas problem?”

Mark’s brows furrowed. “What Lucas problem? There is no problem.”

Donghyuck looked at Mark with narrowed eyes like the elder was completely off his rocker. Mark didn’t think his statement deserved such a scrutinising look. “There clearly is if he’s tracked us down to our school, Mark. I know he’s kinda hot and everything and I’m thankful that he shot that giant fucker for me but he needs to be,” Hyuck finished his sentence with a slashing motion.

“No.”

“No?” Hyuck raised an incredulous brow.

“No.” Mark repeated, voice firm and stance strong. He showed zero signs of backing down. 

Donghyuck regarded his best friend before his head tipped up, his eyes widened fractionally. “Oh.”

“Don’t look at me like that.” Mark groaned, feeling shy under the younger’s gaze.

“Like what?” Hyuck smirked. “Like I’m proud of you for getting yourself a hot killer in training boyfriend because I’m definitely _not_ proud of you for getting a hot killer in training boyfriend. Wink wink.”

Mark groaned once more, burying his head in his hands and was about to start telling Hyuck that it wasn’t like that (yet) when Lucas himself popped his head around the corner.

“Hey Mark. Hey Sun,” he greeted with a bright smile on his face. “Class is about to start.”

“Thanks Lucas” Hyuck said dismissively before the penny dropped. He turned to them with eyes as wide as saucers. “… wait… DOES HE KNOW TOO?!”

“Of course, Yukhei knows. I told you your disguise was shit.” Mark laughed, walking pass Hyuck with a friendly pat to his shoulder.

Hyuck was about to follow with a bunch of defences on the tip of his tongue when he froze yet again. “Wait… THAT’S YUKHEI????!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> kudos + comment if you want

**Author's Note:**

> Yup that's all that was. This was meant to be a cute lil 2k fic lololol i cant write short fics for shit :(
> 
> Bonus Markhyuckish chapter that way -->
> 
> Kudos (if you liked it ^^) and comment (if you feel like it)
> 
> Stream Kick It xoxo


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